Just My Two Cents …

Shortly after the 221st General Assembly of the PCUSA made its decisions on marriage, the Presbyterian Lay Committee issued a statement which included the following:

The Presbyterian Lay Committee mourns these actions and calls on all Presbyterians to resist and protest them. You should tell your pastor and the members of your session that you disapprove of these actions. You should refuse to fund the General Assembly, your synod, your presbytery and even your local church if those bodies have not explicitly and publicly repudiated these unbiblical actions.

I am in favor of communication with your pastor, session, presbytery and synod. I think that’s a great idea. Let’s talk about the tough issues; our diversity is our strength. Withholding giving, however, is, in my opinion, not only ineffective, but unfaithful. It is a bullying tactic that is manipulative and not in keeping with our understanding of community, the work of the Holy Spirit, and faithful church membership.

I remember members of my own congregation holding back their tithes and offerings when they didn’t like the decisions of the session. The introduction of contemporary worship, a new hymnal, the Sunday morning schedule, or the leadership of a particular pastor are not reasons to boycott the offering plate. And while the issues at stake today around the ordination of LGBTQI folk and marriage between two people regardless of gender are deeper theologically than the presence of a video screen in the sanctuary, it is still ecclesiastically blasphemous to use money to leverage a particular outcome in the church. A council’s decision is meant to be the discernment of the Spirit and should not be “swayed” by members using their tithes and offerings as lobbying tactics.

Commissioners who attended the 221st assembly in Detroit have attested to the prevalence of the Holy Spirit in the work of the General Assembly both in committees and in plenary. They spoke of the prayer, the grace, the respect, the listening, the attentiveness to the Word that was the foundation of their work and the “air” of the room.

I understand there are people among us who believe this discernment was contrary to their understanding of scripture and God’s will. I am saddened, but understand, that some will decide they can no longer stay part of our denomination or local church. I had a discussion with one elder a few days ago about the call away from the PCUSA … I won’t argue with you on that. I get it. And I will help you find a community to which are called, as well. But I am disgusted by those who remain part of the church, who judge that the decisions of our church are outside the realm of God, and in the meantime refuse to support the mission and ministry of the church.

I see this tactic being used on both sides of the theological divide. It must stop. If you have a problem with the way we are being Church together, then there are appropriate ways to speak, to overture other possibilities, to bring remedial and/or disciplinary complaints if inappropriate behavior warrants it. But if we faithfully disagree, then we either live faithfully in that tension, or we follow the call on our hearts and lives to join a community of believers with more similar understandings. This is true for the local congregation as well as the larger denomination. We are called as leaders in the church to support the work of the church. If we cannot, then we need to leave our positions of leadership and find the community to which we’re called to participate fully.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Matthew 6:21

If you care about your church, then, even if you disagree with the decisions of the session, presbytery, synod or general assembly … that’s where your treasure must be, with the church. Give fully, participate fully, love fully … and trust that God’s will WILL be made known in God’s time … if you cannot trust that, then join a faith community in which you can fully trust God to be made known through the Spirit.

I had the privilege of caring for my father the last few years of his life. In the afternoon many times he had FOX News on and was in the mists of some rants in response to what he saw. My response was to turn off the TV and say. “dad, its a beautiful day. lets take a walk outside”.

My response to any who invest any energy or attention, to the standard fare of the ‘Layman’ is much the same. It exists for one purpose, fire up the bases on both ends of the spectrum. Check.
There are many ways to respond to the EP’s two cents. If her point is to address the use, misuse, or application of financial or fiscal policy as a means of either protest or making a statement may I suggest she has a discussion with Israel BDS lobby within the Presbytery for a primer of economic applications of investment and divestment. The secondary issue is how unity is now defined in the current church. Unity is best when based on either theological, missonal, doctrinal or constitutional/confessional concept of the term. Unity based upon fiscal or monetary transactions between parties is problematic at best. Always the lowest common denominator. Hard to build a compelling message based on that alone.

Whatever the collective angst is in Presbytery of New Brunswick, monetary, people wise, program, mission is a result of the simple fact is that there are less Presbyterians in 2014, as compared to say, 2007, as compared to 1965, as there will be less in 2016 and 2020 than today. That is a demographic and actuarial matter, not a left-right-conservative-liberal culture war issue. Those trends will change if and when the church, local and regional, produce an over-all compelling reason to go to church, and present an over-all life transforming message that stands in stark contrast to the contemporary trash of popular culture.

It is very easy and intellectually dishonest to create the conservative-evangelical straw-person upon which to place all of one’s matters and issues. Or just bid those who disagree to shake the dust off and leave. No.

Thanks, Peter. My 2 cents is about being a part of a community of faith, but not participating fully. Particularly in congregations. I know of congregations in which a sizable minority is withholding pledges because of a decision the session made … trying to pressure the session to reconsider. I feel it’s manipulative and not in the best interest of ministry.

The problem with historic Presbyterianism as a system or polity was that relationships, church- Presbytery, the wider church, clergy to clergy, were assumed by either covenantal or constitutional agreements. Also the assumption of broad, general agreement over the essentials of faith. The Book of Order assumes that still. The problem in the post-Christian, post-denominational, fragmented world is that those assumptions no longer obtain.

PNB core question going forward is just what do we base corporate relationships now, and how does one make an organizational structure based upon relational type events and by-ins, as opposed to the old regulatory-management top-down structure which church no longer wants, desires, supports, and frankly no longer can afford.

Apart from hot-button social/political issues which always will divide and fracture the body, those are the questions to address going forward.

The ideas expressed here are my own personal opinions. While I intend for them to be helpful and thought-provoking for the pastors, elders and congregations with whom I work, they do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the Presbytery of Monmouth or the Presbyterian Church (USA).

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